Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Fuentes was awarded the Silver Star during a ceremony Tuesday for his actions during operations in Afghanistan in October 2011.

DEVON RAVINE / Daily News

By LAUREN SAGE REINLIE / Daily News

Published: Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 05:57 PM.

CAMP RUDDER — After Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Fuentes received the Silver Star, he told the crowd he wanted to speak for those who couldn’t do so for themselves.

At the ceremony on Tuesday, the 29-year-old Ranger dive team instructor spoke about his brothers-in-arms who did not make it home from that harrowing week in Afghanistan during the fall of 2011.

“I had been pulled into a family I never knew existed, a family bound by life experiences only found in the presence of death and sacrifice,” he said. “On that day in October, my family was reduced.”

In early October 2011, then-Staff Sgt. Fuentes led his unit through eight days of nearly constant attack from insurgent forces while trying to establish a permanent base in Kunar Province.

For days, the enemy pummeled Fuentes’ unit of Afghan and American forces with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

They were under-manned and lightly armed, but were able to stave off the enemy until the sixth day, when they suffered at least nine casualties.

Fuentes coordinated their evacuation and continued the fight.

Three days later, he led a patrol into an enemy cave system. They were able to destroy it along with a large weapons cache.

After a grueling nine days of fighting, Fuentes volunteered to stay an additional 24 hours to oversee the arrival of a new platoon of reinforcements.

Major Gen. H.R. McMaster, the commanding general at Fort Benning, Ga., which oversees the Army Ranger training program, pinned the medal on Fuentes.

“You’re an inspiration to all of us,” McMaster said. “Thank you.”

He also read some comments from Fuentes’ former battalion commander, retired Lt. Col. Dan Wilson.

Despite being the junior ranking platoon sergeant during his deployment, Fuentes was respected.

“Because of his tactical and technical expertise, physical and mental toughness, and just the way he carries himself, people want to be like him — subordinates, peers and superiors alike,” Wilson wrote.

He said Fuentes did something valorous “just about every time” he stepped out of the wire, and he believed Fuentes was the reason the operation to set up a base in Kunar did not turn out disastrously, as other attempts across the country had.

Fuentes, who now serves as an instructor at the 6th Ranger Training Battalion, attributed his ability to perform the way he did to excellent training and trusting the men he served alongside.

He said the brothers they lost were not forgotten.

“You are why I am here,” he said. “You are why I continue to motivate. You are my direction, my permanent leaders.”

His combat experience gave him an appreciation of another fallen service member, his grandfather who was killed before he could meet his brave grandson.

Fuentes ended the ceremony with an emotional plea that his fallen brothers seek out his grandfather in heaven.

“I ask you to say two simple words, words I truly understand now, words I now feel worthy enough to say to him: Thank You.”

CAMP RUDDER — After Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Fuentes received the Silver Star, he told the crowd he wanted to speak for those who couldn’t do so for themselves.

At the ceremony on Tuesday, the 29-year-old Ranger dive team instructor spoke about his brothers-in-arms who did not make it home from that harrowing week in Afghanistan during the fall of 2011.

“I had been pulled into a family I never knew existed, a family bound by life experiences only found in the presence of death and sacrifice,” he said. “On that day in October, my family was reduced.”

In early October 2011, then-Staff Sgt. Fuentes led his unit through eight days of nearly constant attack from insurgent forces while trying to establish a permanent base in Kunar Province.

For days, the enemy pummeled Fuentes’ unit of Afghan and American forces with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

They were under-manned and lightly armed, but were able to stave off the enemy until the sixth day, when they suffered at least nine casualties.

Fuentes coordinated their evacuation and continued the fight.

Three days later, he led a patrol into an enemy cave system. They were able to destroy it along with a large weapons cache.

After a grueling nine days of fighting, Fuentes volunteered to stay an additional 24 hours to oversee the arrival of a new platoon of reinforcements.

Major Gen. H.R. McMaster, the commanding general at Fort Benning, Ga., which oversees the Army Ranger training program, pinned the medal on Fuentes.

“You’re an inspiration to all of us,” McMaster said. “Thank you.”

He also read some comments from Fuentes’ former battalion commander, retired Lt. Col. Dan Wilson.

Despite being the junior ranking platoon sergeant during his deployment, Fuentes was respected.

“Because of his tactical and technical expertise, physical and mental toughness, and just the way he carries himself, people want to be like him — subordinates, peers and superiors alike,” Wilson wrote.

He said Fuentes did something valorous “just about every time” he stepped out of the wire, and he believed Fuentes was the reason the operation to set up a base in Kunar did not turn out disastrously, as other attempts across the country had.

Fuentes, who now serves as an instructor at the 6th Ranger Training Battalion, attributed his ability to perform the way he did to excellent training and trusting the men he served alongside.

He said the brothers they lost were not forgotten.

“You are why I am here,” he said. “You are why I continue to motivate. You are my direction, my permanent leaders.”

His combat experience gave him an appreciation of another fallen service member, his grandfather who was killed before he could meet his brave grandson.

Fuentes ended the ceremony with an emotional plea that his fallen brothers seek out his grandfather in heaven.

“I ask you to say two simple words, words I truly understand now, words I now feel worthy enough to say to him: Thank You.”